The Sanubari

Within an estate of tropical forest and savannah on the Indian Ocean coast of Sumba, The Sanubari is a boutique property of ten villas that represents the smaller and more intimate end of the luxury travel offer on an island whose distance from the Indonesian tourist mainstream — Sumba requires a flight change in Bali or Flores — gives even its larger properties a quality of genuine remoteness. The villas’ design draws on the Sumbanese Uma Mbatangu high-roof architectural tradition in a contemporary interpretation that uses natural local materials — bamboo, rattan, and teak — in structures that maintain a visual reference to the island’s building heritage while providing the comfort appropriate to a property at this price point. The Indian Ocean beach below the property and the savannah and forest landscape surrounding it give The Sanubari a dual ecological character of coastal and inland environments within a single estate.

The cultural programme engages directly with the Sumbanese communities of the surrounding villages, with visits to the traditional raja houses and megalithic tombs, participation in the Pasola festival preparations during the seasonal rice harvest ceremonies, and workshops in the ikat weaving tradition under the guidance of master weavers from the local community. The kitchen’s menus draw on the Sumbanese culinary culture of se’i smoked beef, fresh coconut preparations, and the Indian Ocean seafood of the local fishing fleet, providing a direct engagement with the island’s food traditions. The surfing programme on the Indian Ocean’s consistent swells, the horseback riding through the savannah landscape, and the birdwatching for Sumba’s endemic species complete the activity framework.

The Sanubari’s conservation commitments to the Sumba landscape focus on the management of the estate’s forest and savannah habitats as wildlife corridors for the endemic Sumba hornbill and other species characteristic of this island’s specific avian geography, one of the most distinct in the Indonesian archipelago.